Until fairly recently, door hardware was a fairly basic option on a door. Whilst great strides had been made to transform the entrance door market, thanks mainly to the composite door, the hardware that dresses a door needed to catch up.

Now, we have superb ranges of traditional ironmongery from a range of suppliers which transform an ordinary-looking door into something far sexier. There are architectural ranges in brushed and stainless finishes.

However, it is the new Rose Gold finish from Sweet Doors which has grabbed my attention the most in the past 6-9 months. For me, its the best looking polished finish for years.

On-trend

Last year I was on a lead, walking around the kitchen in someone’s home. It was stunning. Traditional in style, with aged dark blue cabinetry and dark grey detail throughout. What caught my eye however were the polished Rose Gold taps, handles and lighting that were off-setting the colour scheme of the kitchen. I had never seen them before, but they looked amazing.

Then I got to thinking, why aren’t we doing this with our own hardware yet? Soon enough, as I brought the subject up, Sweet brought out their range in a new Rose Gold polished finish. Made in the same way as the rest so it won’t pit. I saw some of the early samples of the products before they were launched officially and I loved them from the off.

It was something new, something different. Something that could make a White door look far more interesting. Or a colour that could provide additional character without having to resort to Chrome on dark Blue or Grey doors.

The Rose Gold trend began for me when Apple released it as a colour option on their iPhones. Since then, other tech manufacturers have made the same colour available. And as with most design trends, that colour jumped from phones to other areas of design and industry, and now fenestration has it too.

The guys at McDermott Windows sent me this the other day from their showroom:

Modern, with a hint of traditional style thanks to the colour. It works really well against the colour of the door, and the glass design. This is where Rose Gold on the Sweet handle sits for me. A mix of contemporary and traditional, bridging the two nicely, meaning this product can span both sides of the entrance door market.

These are going on one of our doors in the showroom too:

New era of design

Now, more than ever, design matters. The importance of design and style is interwoven into all aspects of our lives more than it ever has been. For our industry, that is something we have to focus on and make the most of.

For the next two years our industry, as well as most other sectors, is going to be in recovery mode. Survival is now the top priority. Homeowners in the longer term are going to be more cautious with their money. There is no better way to create that want and desire than good design. This is what Rose Gold does, along with Sweet. The range is already a brand new look that grabs your attention on a door. The new colour makes that stand out even more and has the ability to turn plain old boring doors into something far better looking. On social media, this is what is going to become powerful. Images like the above are hard to ignore, and people will want what they see if they like it. That’s something installers have to focus on.

At the manufacturing level, its time for a new era of design. In parts, our industry has done well to drag our sector forwards, but not every company or every area has been on board. Good design is one of the most powerful tools. Look at Apple. They make phones, tablets and PCs. Phones, tablets and PCs exist all around the world by different manufacturers, and almost all do the same things with varying user experiences. But it’s the design and branding that makes Apple so powerful. Something we all need to keep in the back of our minds when we do this job.

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